Self-study
Support In an experiment, each of 200 randomly selected people was videotaped while describing action-packed excerpts from previously unfamiliar cartoons. ████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████
Summary
The author concludes that gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. This is supported by an experiment.
A group of randomly selected people was divided into two groups. One group was allowed to gesture while describing action-packed scenes from cartoons. Another group was NOT allowed to gesture while describing those scenes.
There was a correlation between gesturing and speaking more quickly, as well as repeating one’s self less often.
Missing Connection
The conclusion brings up the new concept of “helping speakers quickly find the phrases they want.” The premises don’t say anything about helping speakers quickly find the phrases they want. Rather, the premises simply describe an experiment in which those who gestured while describing scenes from a cartoon spoke more quickly and repeated themselves less. But the correlation between gesturing and speaking quickly / repeating less often doesn’t prove a causal relationship. We want to establish that the experiment proves gesturing “helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want.”
18.
Which one of the following, ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████
a
Ordinarily almost everyone █████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██████████
(A) doesn’t establish that gesturing helps people quickly find the phrases they want. It simply establishes that most people under ordinary conditions regularly use gestures. But it doesn’t create a causal relationship between gesturing and speaking more quickly / repeating one’s self less often.
b
The cartoons were ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ████████
The origin of the cartoons that were described has no impact on the reasoning. We want to establish that gesturing helps people find phrases more quickly. (B) doesn’t do that.
c
Any form of ████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████████
The premises describe an experiment in which gesturing was correlated with quicker speech and less repetition. According to (C), then, the correlation observed in the experiment would establish that gesturing helps speakers find the phrases they want quickly.
d
Any form of ████████ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████████
We want to prove that gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. We don’t want an answer that tells us what happens IF gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. In other words, we’re looking for “gesturing correlated with speaking quickly / less repeats → helps speakers find phrases quickly.” (E) puts “helps speakers find phrases quickly” on the left side of the arrow.
e
Of the subjects ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ █████
(E) might strengthen the argument by strengthening the correlation between gesturing and speaking faster / repeating less. But it doesn’t prove, with 100% certainty, a causal relationship.